The Special Assistant to President Kennedy describes the historic events in which John F. Kennedy participated during his three years in the White House.

Prologue : January 1961 -- The road to the nomination -- Triumph in Los Angeles -- Campaign for the presidency -- Kennedy on the eve -- Gathering of the forces -- Prelude to the New Frontier -- Latin American journey -- The Alliance for Progress -- The hour of euphoria -- The Bay of Pigs -- Ordeal by fire -- New departures -- Legacy in Southeast Asia -- Encounter in Europe -- Trial in Berlin -- The reconstruction of democracy -- Peril in the skies -- No truce to terror -- New directions in the third world -- Tangle in Southeast Asia -- Africa : the new adventure -- The world of diversity -- The country moving again -- The national agenda -- In the White House -- Down Pennsylvania Avenue -- The bully pulpit -- The politics of modernity -- Battle for the hemisphere -- Again Cuba -- The great turning -- The not so grand design -- Two Europes : De Gaulle and Kennedy -- The pursuit of peace -- The travail of equal rights -- The Negro Revolution -- Autumn 1963.